i wouldnt crack a game. i just baught it today at walmart. if you search on forums.thesimsresource.com for sims2ep1.exe you will find many other people with the same problem.
Yeah, you should contact them and tell them your story. I'm sure they'll be able to verify you have the game by some CD key or something, hence allow you to download the file.
Now why in the world would you post that if you have nothing else to say? I can understand if you say "Yes, I agree with Chris, and...", but you didn't. I don't think you're posting it because you think he can't see my post... To me, it's spam. Whether or not your doing it on purpose, I don't know.